Chuckanut Bay looks to push win streak to three

Racing at Emerald Downs, Turf Paradise, and Albuquerque over the past 14 months, the 6-year-old gelding Chuckanut Bay has developed a knack for putting together three-race winning streaks.

One of those streaks occurred this past fall in the Southwest and included a victory in the $30,000 Hank Mills Jr. Overnight Stakes at Turf Paradise. Another came last spring and early summer at Emerald Downs, where Chuckanut Bay won his first three races of the year at the Auburn, Wash., racetrack – notching a career-high 89 Beyer Speed Figure in the process – before coming up well short in the $50,000 Governor’s Stakes.

In Saturday’s featured race 6, a starter allowance at 6 1/2 furlongs with a $14,000 purse, Chuckanut Bay will seek to put the finishing touches on another three-race streak – but Cap It Daddy won’t make it easy for him.

Cap It Daddy, who runs for Elodio Madrigal’s small stable, has finished a close second in both of Chuckanut Bay’s Emerald wins this year, the last of which came on June 27. A rivalry of sorts has taken flight.

“Cap It Daddy has run a couple of really big races. He’s made Chuckanut work for it,” said Howie Gibson, who trains Chuckanut Bay. “Elodio’s done a pretty good job with him.”

Gibson said Chuckanut Bay came out of that June 27 race in good shape, but he conceded that he has his concerns about Saturday’s tilt.

“The race is coming back quick and he ran such a big race last time, so I’m a little worried about that,” said Gibson.

Then again, Cap It Daddy’s in the exact same boat, and the two rivals look to be a cut well above the four other entrants.

One thing that’s not in Gibson’s immediate plans for Chuckanut Bay, who has a record of 16-7-4-1 at Emerald, is a return to stakes company.

“He has to run with Lasix, so I just don’t want to put him through that,” said Gibson. “I’ll just run him where I can where he can have Lasix.”

Gibson has another rivalry brewing with fellow trainer Joe Toye, at least when it comes to the right to train Roll Dem Bones. The 7-year-old claimer rides his own two-race winning streak into Saturday’s race 5, a $5,000 claiming race at six furlongs.

The first of those wins came for Gibson, who claimed Roll Dem Bones from Toye for $3,500 out of a runner-up finish on June 6 at Emerald. Toye then claimed him back off Gibson out of a win on June 19, and Gibson reclaimed him from Toye for $5,000 when Roll Dem Bones scored a five-length victory on July 3.

When asked if he expected Toye to claim Roll Dem Bones again on Saturday, Gibson said, “I kind of think that he’s probably going to. That’s just part of it. If you’re not trading horses, then it’s hard to win a lot of races. He’s real competitive and he’s running good, so right now is just a good time to have him.”